Poor, beautiful Cecil.

I am heartbroken that this magnificent creature was hunted, tortured, skinned and beheaded.  It’s just absolutely beyond the pale.  I don’t believe hunting is a sport.  How is it a sport when only one party knows what’s happening?  It’s dreadful.

This stunning lion was shot with an arrow.  It did NOT kill him outright.  He was tracked for the next bazillion hours until he collapsed.  He was then shot.  This is equally as cruel as fox hunting, and you know how I feel about that.

However, and this is where I get controversial (again), I do not agree with the way the hunter is being treated.

Is what he did wrong?  Yes, absolutely.

Does he deserve to be internationally bullied like this?  No, absolutely not.  This is harassment, and if you need another ‘buzz topic’, cyber-bulling.

The public have no doubt put him and his family in fear of their lives.  How is this a correct way to treat a human being?  Two wrongs do not make a right, and last I checked, lynching was illegal so everyone needs to calm down before it gets that far.

I do think he should face justice.  I do think he should be tried for his crime.  I do think he should have to pay very heavy financial penalties.  The money could go towards education (“Hunting is Bad” 101) and conservation/wildlife projects in Africa.  The fact that he is being terrorised is a) counter productive, and b) inhumane.

People are up in arms about this mans’ treatment of an animal, and rightly so.  But it does not give them the right to take away his basic human and civil rights.

If nothing else comes out of this, I hope it encourages the world to put pressure on the governments of certain countries in Africa, and across the globe, to put a stop to this kind of tourism.  Also, let Cecil become the poster boy against poaching.  This happens every day and it has been lost in the righteous dialogue that has poured from people.  Poaching is illegal hunting too, and is how we have lost so many Rhino that they are close to extinction.

That would be the right way to channel this public outrage.

RIP Cecil.